DRAFT Policy 1101 - Code of Meeting Practice

Draft Code of Meeting Practice – Submission on Agenda Opening and Meeting Duration

I am making this submission on two linked issues in the Draft Code of Meeting Practice:

The proposed inclusion of “Prayer” and “Acknowledgement of Country” in the formal Order of Business.
The absence of a hard meeting time limit.

Both go directly to how we govern, how we make decisions, and how we meet our obligations to the Oberon community.

These items are not part of Council’s statutory civic function
Under the Local Government Act 1993 and the Local Government (General) Regulation 2021, the lawful purpose of an Ordinary Council Meeting is to transact Council business. That core function is:
opening the meeting,
recording attendance and apologies,
dealing with disclosures of interest,
debating and resolving reports and motions,
recording those decisions,
closing the meeting.

Prayer is not required by the Act.
Acknowledgement of Country is not required by the Act.

They are optional ceremonial statements. They are not prerequisites for Council to sit, vote, or make lawful resolutions.

They should not be embedded in the formal Order of Business as if they are mandatory parts of how Oberon Council conducts its civic duty.

Compulsory ceremony is not neutral
When “Prayer” or an “Acknowledgement of Country” is built into the agenda of every Ordinary Meeting, it becomes an implied obligation on every Councillor in the room, regardless of personal belief.

That creates problems:

It blurs the line between individual belief/personal conscience and the corporate act of Council.
It lets the current majority effectively apply a standing religious or cultural statement to every single meeting of the Council, even if not all Councillors support that wording.

This is not good governance. Council is there to serve the whole community. Councillors should not be seen as having to participate in religious language, or in a particular form of cultural statement, in order to carry out their elected civic function.

Some Councillors are being lobbied by parts of the community to “keep prayer” or “keep acknowledgement” because it is seen as a symbol. Symbol is not decision-making. Religion has no lawful basis in determining planning, finance, compliance, or service delivery. An Acknowledgement of Country, likewise, is not what makes a rate resolution or a procurement decision lawful. What is lawful is how we vote and how we record that vote. That is what we are elected to do.

Council’s opening should never imply that faith or ceremony guides the resolution. Our decisions must be based on policy, compliance, evidence, and financial responsibility — not on symbolism.

Civic Statement is the correct opening to business
I have already submitted a proposed “Civic Statement.” The Civic Statement is the appropriate opening, because it is about duty.

A Civic Statement:

acknowledges that Councillors are here to conduct the lawful business of Oberon on behalf of its residents,
commits Councillors to honesty, transparency, respectful debate, and acting in the public interest,
recognises that our votes have real consequences for the community.

That is the standard we should be held to. It applies equally to every Councillor, regardless of religion, culture, background or personal views. It reminds Councillors of their obligations before they start voting.

That is what should sit in the formal Order of Business.

If an individual Councillor, including the Mayor, wishes to offer a personal prayer or give an Acknowledgement of Country in their own words, they can do so before the meeting is declared open. That keeps it clearly voluntary and personal, not compulsory and corporate.

Time discipline and WHS – meetings must be capped at 4 hours
The Draft Code currently does not contain an enforceable time limit. That is not acceptable.

Oberon meetings have run well past midnight. After those meetings, Councillors are still working — clarifying minutes, responding to residents, drafting follow-up motions - meaning some of us are not in bed until 4:00am. Councillors then continue with our normal employment and community responsibilities the next day. Staff who attend have already done a full workday before a 5:30pm start and often cannot safely or realistically back up early the following morning.

This is not just inconvenient. It is a fatigue and safety risk. It affects decision quality, accuracy, recall, and behaviour in the room. It also affects road safety when Councillors and staff drive home on rural roads after 12:30am or 1:00am.

Some Councillors appear to believe that “we’ll just push on until we’re finished” is showing commitment. It’s not commitment. It is poor governance. It is unsafe, it invites procedural mistakes, and it means million-dollar, high-impact decisions are sometimes being made when people are not thinking clearly because they are exhausted.

If Council is serious about workplace health and safety, serious about good conduct, and serious about public confidence in decisions, then the Code must put a limit in writing.

I request the following be inserted into the Code of Meeting Practice:

“An Ordinary Meeting of Council will be limited to a maximum sitting period of four (4) hours from the declared start time.
Council may, by absolute majority of all Councillors, resolve one extension of up to 30 minutes. Only one such extension may be granted.
At the conclusion of that time, any remaining business automatically stands adjourned and must be resumed at the next Ordinary Meeting or at a continuation Ordinary Meeting scheduled within the same month.”

This is a basic control used in professional governance. It protects Councillors, protects staff, and protects the integrity of resolutions made in the chamber.

Second Ordinary Meeting instead of “just go until 1am”
Tied to the 4-hour cap, the Code should recognise that some agendas are heavy. The answer to a heavy agenda is not a 7-hour marathon. The answer is to break it.

I request the Code include a continuation mechanism:

“Where the business paper is expected to exceed the practical sitting limit, Council must schedule a second Ordinary Meeting in that same month (or a continuation of the first meeting) with proper public notice. This continuation replaces the need to call an Extraordinary Meeting except in a genuine emergency.”

This does three things:

It keeps major business in public, predictable, properly notified meetings — not last-minute ‘extraordinary’ sessions.
It stops decision-making at 12:30am when judgement is impaired.
It shows respect for Councillors’ and staff workloads and safety.
Requested changes to the Draft Code
I request that the Draft Code of Meeting Practice be amended as follows:

a) Remove “Prayer” and “Acknowledgement of Country” from the formal Order of Business.
b) Insert “Civic Statement” in that position, using a fixed form of words adopted by resolution of Council. The Civic Statement should focus on honesty, transparency, respect, public interest, and financial responsibility.
c) Clarify that any Prayer or Acknowledgement offered by an individual Councillor, including the Mayor, may be made before the meeting is formally opened, and is not binding on other Councillors.
d) Insert a hard four (4) hour meeting limit with a single possible 30-minute extension by absolute majority only, and require remaining business to roll to a continuation Ordinary Meeting within the same month.
e) Formally recognise fatigue, late-night travel risk, and next-day operational continuity as WHS issues affecting both Councillors and staff.

Summary
Council meetings exist to transact lawful business for the Oberon community. That is our civic duty.

Mandatory Prayer and mandatory Acknowledgement of Country are not part of that duty. They are optional ceremony and should not be written into the Order of Business in a way that implies every Councillor is bound to them.

At the same time, Council cannot continue to run meetings past midnight and pretend that is safe, professional, or in the public interest. A four-hour cap, a controlled extension, and (when needed) a scheduled continuation meeting are basic governance standards.

Adopting a neutral Civic Statement at the start of each meeting, and inserting enforceable meeting time limits, will improve conduct, decision quality, safety, and public confidence.

Councillor Helen Hayden

Section 8.1 - Order of business. I think the prayer should be removed from the agenda. There is an implied separation of church and state in Australia in the constitution, although this doesn't extend to state and local governments. I think it is crazy for councillors to ask their make-believe friend to help them with their deliberations in a council meeting. Councillors should be making decisions based on logic and fact not on auditory hallucinations from a sky fairy.
Sections 3.1 and 18. These two sections are related as they deal with when the meetings start and how long they can go for. Starting the meetings at 1730 means that any staff attending have already been at work for 9.25 hours before the meeting starts. Some recent meetings have not finished until after midnight. If they take their required 10 hour break between shifts, they do not arrive at work until mid morning and this is disruptive for other staff. It means that no meetings can be schedules with the GM or directors for the morning of the day after a council meeting as they cannot guarantee their attendance.
Also assuming most people attendibg the meeting have woken up at or before 7am, then by midnight they will have been awake for 17 hours. This level of sleep depravation is the equivalent of a BAC of 0.05%. This not only impacts on the decision making abilities of the councillors, but increases the risks of staff and councillors driving home from the meeting. By having no limits to the length of a council meeting, it is not out of the realms of possibility that meetings could extend to 2am, 3am or beyond. This does not make for meaningful discussion, or thoughtful decison making and is a measurable risk to staff and elected officials.
The length of the meetings could be reduced if the meeting code of conduct included Section 13 which would allow for "Dealing with Items by Exception". This section streamlines meetings by allowing multipple agenda items to be adopted in bulk without discussion. The exclusions means that certain items cannot be treated this way and they include if a councillor requests the matter be dealt with on its own, there is a conflict of interest or the item is subject to public submissions or controversy. This means that the tranparency of decisions is maintained.
In conclusion, by including meaningless items such as a prayer, removing opportunities to streamline meetings by dealing with items by exception, having meetings start an hour after the official end of a council worker's day and not putting sensible limitations, the code of meeting conduct in it current form means it is inevitable that there will be lengthy meetings going when into the late hours of the night or early hours of the morning. This is a recipe for poor decision making and a significant risk to all meeting participants. If Oberon Council is serious about workplace health and safety and truly supports a work/life balance, then these items need to be reconsidered.